Looks like Suzi Perry won't be going to Channel 4. I was thinking this might be the case for as I always found that the way F1 was presented on the BBC went downhill when Jake Humphrey left and Suzi Perry joined.

He told MotorSportsTalk: "I decided for sure, not so long ago. I prefer to be away from the operational work because it’s too complicated anyway with Formula E and the ambassador role and Canal [in France] and maybe Channel 4 [in Britain], different things that I have to do.

Plot Twist: New C4 F1 presenter is the singer Seal, he's been a huge F1 fan since the 80's and looks forward to the resurgence of Mclaren as it was with Senna and Prost. Likes: Heidi Klum, the old Hockenheim layout. Dislikes: Tilkedromes, actual seals.

This seems a bit strange to me. There is still no Channel 4 F1 website. Also, there is very little news who the presenters will be. Does anyone think it is actually all planned and they are just announcing it all at the last moment? It just feels a little strange that Channel 4 made it sound that they are fully taking over F1 from the BBC and yet there is hardly any news and no website.

The main thing I am wondering is who will be the other commentator with Coulthard.

As an aside I watched one of Ted's Notebooks today. It was a painful 30 minutes!

I have heard of James Allen but I can't quite remember who he is. Did he sometimes do the commentating with Alan McNish on the BBC during the practice sessions?

I watched Ted's Notebooks too and I totally agree. I didn't watch F1 as much when he used to be on the BBC but I didnt realise quite how hard he was to watch. Spends ages saying things that people clearly were not doing and then eventually pointing out the obvious. There were only a few useful points. I think I would say that I found him harder to listen to than Suzi Perry on the BBC.I just wish channel 4 will have some sort of introduction program before their first F1 race which I assume will be the highlights of the austrailian GP.

Last edited by TheGiantHogweed on Mon Aug 15, 2016 8:03 pm, edited 2 times in total.

I used to really enjoy Ted's notebook but he's definitely gone downhill. His driver interviews are often terrible but the one he did with Haryanto the other night was probably a new low.

I'm sure he knows what he's talking about most of the time but occasionally he makes a comment that makes you wonder. Maybe it's a lack of preparation that's the problem, that despite having a notebook, ironically, he tries to do too much of it off the top of his head.

As an aside I watched one of Ted's Notebooks today. It was a painful 30 minutes!

I have heard of James Allen but I can't quite remember who he is. Did he sometimes do the commentating with Alan McNish on the BBC during the practice sessions?

I watched Ted's Notebooks too and I totally agree. I didn't watch F1 as much when he used to be on the BBC but I didnt realise quite how hard he was to watch. Spends ages saying things that people clearly were not doing and then eventually pointling out the obvious. There were only a few useful points. I think I would say that I found him harder to listen to than Suzi Perry on the BBC.I just wish channel 4 will have som sort of introduction program before their first F1 race which I assume will be the highlights of the austrailian GP.

In fairness to him ITV really wanted him to push the British talent and make a fuss of them so he was only doing what he was told. It's also often forgotten, than prior to Murry retiring, Allen was the pit lane reporter for ITV and set the mould that Ted Kravitz would later follow.

In fact at the time Kravitz felt like such a lightweight in the pitlane after Allen went to the commentary box, despite all his later success in the role with BBC and Sky.

Also Mcneesh was pretty cool. DC in the commentary box would be awesome.

Was not a big fan of Suzy Perry but honestly at this stage I don't really care about the presenters.

I have high hopes that C4 will have a great coverage of F1, and they'll be nothing like the dinosaur that is the BBC

I'd be surprised if the presenter was anyone other Steve Jones at this stage.Hoping that Ben Edwards will continue, no real reason to change him, and there's not that many other options out there anyway.

The big questions are: is either of Lee McKenzie or Jenny Gow going to crossover and who the pitlane reporter will be.The 3rd presenter role can easily be filled on a weekend by weekend basis, and may not even be needed on non-live weekends. The BBC often did without EJ on highlight shows anyway.

I have just looked at my TV guide which goes about 2 weeks ahead. It says that at 12:30 - 13:30 on Saturday the 19th that formula 1 will be on. If this is the highlights of the Australian GP qualifying, then 1 hour is extremely limited considering that the highlights will quite likely have adverts in them. All of the BBC qualifying highlights were an hour and 15 minutes and obviously had no adverts. I am hoping this program either is an introduction to channel 4 and F1 or something else. One hour with adverts just doesn't seem long enough.

I have just looked at my TV guide which goes about 2 weeks ahead. It says that at 12:30 - 13:30 on Saturday the 19th that formula 1 will be on. If this is the highlights of the Australian GP qualifying, then 1 hour is extremely limited considering that the highlights will quite likely have adverts in them. All of the BBC qualifying highlights were an hour and 15 minutes and obviously had no adverts. I am hoping this program either is an introduction to channel 4 and F1 or something else. One hour with adverts just doesn't seem long enough.

Maybe they are not expecting many highlights?

I would have thought that would be a sort of "season primer" -meet the team in the studio and track sort of thing. I hope so anyway. Any red button stuff with it?

I have just looked at my TV guide which goes about 2 weeks ahead. It says that at 12:30 - 13:30 on Saturday the 19th that formula 1 will be on. If this is the highlights of the Australian GP qualifying, then 1 hour is extremely limited considering that the highlights will quite likely have adverts in them. All of the BBC qualifying highlights were an hour and 15 minutes and obviously had no adverts. I am hoping this program either is an introduction to channel 4 and F1 or something else. One hour with adverts just doesn't seem long enough.

Maybe they are not expecting many highlights?

I would have thought that would be a sort of "season primer" -meet the team in the studio and track sort of thing. I hope so anyway. Any red button stuff with it?

(anyone know how to get red button when viewing online BTW)

The problem is that in my room, I don't actually have a TV. I have a freeview HD box that doesn't have a red button option. I liked the way the BBC had the channel BBC RB1 or whatever it was called. This meant that I could just go to this and I didn't even need the red button feature. I don't know if channel 4 will end up getting something similar.

I have just looked at my TV guide which goes about 2 weeks ahead. It says that at 12:30 - 13:30 on Saturday the 19th that formula 1 will be on. If this is the highlights of the Australian GP qualifying, then 1 hour is extremely limited considering that the highlights will quite likely have adverts in them. All of the BBC qualifying highlights were an hour and 15 minutes and obviously had no adverts. I am hoping this program either is an introduction to channel 4 and F1 or something else. One hour with adverts just doesn't seem long enough.

Maybe they are not expecting many highlights?

I would have thought that would be a sort of "season primer" -meet the team in the studio and track sort of thing. I hope so anyway. Any red button stuff with it?

(anyone know how to get red button when viewing online BTW)

The problem is that in my room, I don't actually have a TV. I have a freeview HD box that doesn't have a red button option. I liked the way the BBC had the channel BBC RB1 or whatever it was called. This meant that I could just go to this and I didn't even need the red button feature. I don't know if channel 4 will end up getting something similar.

BBC is on 301, unless you happen to want regional, then its the same. I particularly want top watch rugby on regional where the English option for Audio is on the red button but have been unable to find it.

If you use Chrome there is a very good Ap called UKTVlive. (All legal Mods (I think )) but does not address the red button problem.

The line up looks very interesting. Really pleased that Lee McKenzie and Eddie Jordan are going to be there for it. Wasn't sure if they would be. Even Murray Walker looks like he will get involved.

It looks like the other commentator will be Ben Edwards so that is the same as it has been.

There are so many drivers from F1 that look to be taking part. Bruno Senna, Mark Webber, Alain Prost, Suzie Wolf, Alex Zanardi.

I don't know if I have included all of them!

On the 17th of March at 21:00, there is going to be a special program including Guy Martin and David Coulthard. It includes a lot of other things too which you can read about in the link I sent.

It looks like the highlights of the first race on the 20th will be from 13:30 until 15:45. That a reasonable amount of time considering it is highlights and it has adverts. On the BBC, the highlights of the races rarely were over an hour and a half. The adverts may take up some space but they won't fill that gap.

My TV guide may well not be accurate though. It still says the qualifying highlights will only be 1 hour which seems pretty short.

Despite living in the US (and actually having grown to like our quirky NBCSN lineup!) I'm a little envious of that depth of ex-F1 commentary, particularly Prost. I'd watch a lot of garbage to hear Prost analyze modern F1 in detail. And with less Jordan, one of my big complaints with BBC will be mooted...

He seems like a nice enough guy, it will be interesting to see how he does, he struggled in the USA with the X Factor.

Good set of questions and answers there - I'm keen to see how he does. I warmed to Simon Lazenby and Jake Humphries, I'm sure this will be a similar situation. He seems keen which is half the challenge in that role, as long he's not just an excitable puppy it could work well.